Jazz greats expected in Conyers for Deacon Willie Printup’s homegoing

CONYERS—Family members are planning a New Orleans-style homegoing this Saturday for Deacon Willie“Bobby” Printup that will include jazz great Wynton Marsalis. Bobby Printup’s son, famed trumpeter Marcus Printup, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra also are among the musical greats expected to attend.

The funeral is scheduled at noon at Peeks Chapel Baptist Church, 3185 Old Salem Road, S.E., the home church for several generations of the Printup family, who have lived in Conyers all their lives.

“He would absolutely have loved the celebration being planned for him,” Horace Printup said of his older brother, Bobby Printup. “He loved gospel and jazz music.”

Mr. Printup, 77, died on Tuesday after a long illness. He had battled Alzheimer’s disease and had become increasingly disabled over the last three years, Horace Printup said.

Bobby Printup sang in the choir at Peeks Chapel Baptist Church, where he also was a long-time deacon. Bobby Printup’s late father, Deacon “J.C.” Printup, also was a gospel singer, and Bobby’s son, Marcus, became an internationally-known trumpeter, performing in Paris and Canada.

“The Printups represent generations of musically-inclined people,” said Pastor Aldren Sadler, Sr., a cousin who will deliver the eulogy.

Pastor Sadler fondly recalled Bobby Printup as a “BMW.”

“I always considered Bobby to be a BMW, not a Bentley or a Mercedes, but a BMW. Willie was truly a Black Man Working,” said Pastor Sadler.

Mr. Printup worked at the Porterdale Cotton Mill in Covington before retiring from CMB Batteries in Conyers, where he worked 30 years, Horace Printup said.